CBS analyst explains why Ole Miss win over Oklahoma was the biggest of Lane Kiffin’s time in Oxford
Published:
CBS Sports college football analyst Bryant McFadden talked big after Ole Miss‘s big win at Oklahoma on Saturday afternoon.
And by big, he meant really big for the Rebels, as in the biggest win of Lane Kiffin‘s coaching career, at Ole Miss anyway. That’s how big. Kiffin had been the subject of constant rumors all week regarding Florida‘s vacant head coaching job, and while he had to deflect those rumors Kiffin also had to get his 8th-ranked Rebels ready to play a really huge game on the road against No. 13 Oklahoma.
It wasn’t an easy week for Kiffin, but it ended in glory in Norman, as Ole Miss blew a 12-point 3rd-quarter lead but had the resolve to own the 4th quarter and escape with the gigantic 34-26 win. In a battle of 6-1 teams coming in and with College Football Playoff dreams on the line for both programs, it was the Rebels who prevailed and it was Kiffin who finally earned his first ranked SEC road victory at Ole Miss.
McFadden believes that and a whole lot more qualifies this as the biggest win in Kiffin’s coaching tenure in Oxford. Kiffin celebrated afterward with the Ole Miss fan contingent in Norman, tossing his visor into the stands. Yes, this one meant a whole lot to Kiffin.
“Biggest win for Lane Kiffin there with the Rebels,” McFadden said. “Up until this point, he was (winless) in these moments. He had never beaten a ranked team on the road. For him to exorcise those demons and find a way to finish this game, today he found a way.”
There is still plenty of season left for Kiffin to top this victory, but for now the last Saturday in October in 2025 has to rank at the top or very, very near the top in terms of moments for Kiffin at Ole Miss.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
